Monitoring-Training-Planning (MTP) on Family Planning

Purpose:

Intended Users:

Ministry of Health (MOH) at central, provincial, and district level, non-government organizations (NGOs), hospitals, and any organizations or groups responsible for program implementation within a decentralized health care system.

Description:

Monitoring-Training-Planning (MTP) on Family Planning is a brief, step-by-step, self-applied implementation methodology designed to guide implementation groups to construct programs in their area. MTP on Family Planning is comprised of four sequential modules to be applied one per month in order. The four modules are 1) Situational Analysis and Logistics, 2) Family Planning Norms, 3) Family Planning Counseling, and 4) Family Planning Promotion. Each module begins with an agenda outlining times and topics, and contains multiple checklists, data collection forms, training evaluation forms and supplementary readings and annexes. Each module is divided into three segments: monitoring, training, and planning. The monitoring segment guides the problem analysis. The training segment facilitates a deeper understanding of the problem and an exploration of possible solutions. The planning segment focuses on the actions required to implement the solutions.

Developed by:

Ministry of Health (MOH) staff from the central and provincial levels and Management Sciences for Health (MSH) consultants from 1996 to 1997 in Ecuador.

Application:

MTP on Family Planning has been applied at national, institutional, and programmatic levels. It was field-tested and applied to health districts of Ecuador by Ministry of Health (MOH)/Ecuador provincial and district personnel for both rational drug management and family planning program implementation from 1996 to 1999. It was applied by Project 2000 in Peru to implement improved drug management in 20 regional hospitals and the new Budget and Planning System in 35 health regions. Other countries where MTP has been field-tested included Bangladesh, Mozambique, and currently Nicaragua.

Advantages:

MTP on Family Planning is inexpensive. It can be applied to many different large-scale programs without the need of an outside facilitator for its application. The simple, self-applied nature of MTP increases the autonomy and sustainability of decentralized implementation groups.

Limitations:

MTP on Family Planning is not designed for clinical training or for complicated programs involving 5 to 12 more modules to complete an implementation. Even though MTP applies to groups at the decentralized level, the success of this methodology depends on the levels of technical capacity of the field staff and the training support they receive from the central level.

Recommendations for Users:

Any family program that uses MTP should modify the modules according to national norms and contraceptive supply systems.